A significant event on the Māori calendar, Matariki takes its name from a cluster of stars that reappears in the night sky over New Zealand during mid-winter. Made up of hundreds of member stars, it’s one of the brightest clusters found in the sky and signals the Māori New Year. Known as Pleiades in other parts of the world, the reappearance of the Matariki constellation represents the end of the Māori lunar year and marks the beginning of a new year. Therefore, Matariki is forever linked with the Māori New Year and has historically been a time of celebration and ceremony for Maori.
The Matariki cluster is sometimes called the Seven Sisters because usually seven are visable to the naked eye. Actually, the cluster is about 400 stars and the closest is about 440 light years away. It is known in many cultures because it disappears and rises again in both north and south hemisphere. The starts are known by another name in Japan– Subaru. In Greek world of Jesus the rising of the Pleiades was considered to mark the time of safe sailing in the Mediterranean. The Pleiades are among the first stars mentioned in literature, appearing in Chinese annals of about 2350 BC, and they are also mentioned in the Bible in the books of Amos and Job as part of God’s creation.
For Maori the new rising or sighting of Matariki signals the Maori New Year. Matariki translates to “Eyes of God” (mata – ariki) or ‘Little Eyes’ (mata – riki).
The exact calendar date of Matariki varies each year because it is based on lunar cycles, and different iwi (Māori tribes) begin their Matariki festivities at different times. This star cluster rises usually sometime in June (it’s late this year being early July), and usually the actual celebration is held at the first new moon after the sighting.
In yesteryear it was celebrated following the harvesting of crops, when food stores — or pātaka — were full. Historically, Matariki was celebrated with festivities like the making of offerings to the Māori gods, lighting of ritual fires and various celebrations to honour Māori ancestors, farewell the dead, and celebrate life.
In times before technological advances in meteorology, tohunga (experts) would inspect the Matariki star cluster to help predict how fruitful the new year’s harvest would be. Bright and clear stars signalled a warm and plentiful season, while hazy stars warned of approaching cold weather and lacklustre crops.
While our weather predictions have moved on, to this day Matariki stands for a time of transition, allowing families to mourn and honour their loved ones who have passed away in the year just been. The deceased are believed to have transformed into stars which now shine down from the night sky.
Large scale, public Matariki celebrations all but stopped in the 1940s and weren’t revived again until the year 2000. Their return was marked with a Hawke’s Bay Matariki festival which attracted 500 people in its first year (2000), then attracted 15,000 just three years later!
During these Matariki celebrations, tangata whenua (people of the land), and an increasing number of non-Māori kiwis, gather to celebrate Māori culture, the year that was, to plan for the future, tell stories, sing songs, share kai (food), and play music. English New Zealand member schools and students acknowledge Matariki in a range of ways in and out of the classroom.
In 2022, Matariki became a national public holiday in New Zealand. Whilst many embraced the holiday, there were some who felt it was yet another blow to small businesses already struggling with the aftermath of the covid crisis, and a high cost of living. In 2023 it will be recognised on Friday July 14, and an advisory group decides each year on the dates for the public holiday in future years, as it will shift each year.
Regardless of where you stand on the adoption of a public holiday for the celebration, Matariki is an opportunity for all New Zealanders to embrace a celebration of something truly unique to the country and gather with families to commemorate loved ones passed, and to celebrate new arrivals. It is a time to celebrate unity, faith and hope, to reach out to one another, to celebrate family and community and that surely is the most important consideration of all.